Due to numerous requests, the 2009 Melbourne Conference on China abstract submission deadline has been extended to Friday, 1 May 2009.

Scholars and researchers from all disciplines are welcome to attend and/or present at this conference dedicated to exploring the transformations and challenges that China has been experiencing in the past 60 years.

The conference has attracted an excellent list of keynote speakers and topics, including researchers from leading institutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong and Australia. Keynote speakersâ€™ profiles are available on our conference Website.

Please do not miss this exciting opportunity for the exchange of information and ideas, and opportunity to meet leading international scholars and policy advisors.

Please submit an abstract of up to 500 words, no later than Friday, 1 May 2009, to the following email address: Conference-on-China@unimelb.edu.au

If you would like more information about the conference, please feel free to email Dr Lewis Mayo at lmayo@unimelb.edu.au and Dr Gao Jia at jia@unimelb.edu.au

The abstract must be in English and must contain the proposed title of the paper, the authorâ€™s name, home institution, a brief bio of no more than 150 words, along with contact details including postal address in English, or Chinese if applicable. All submissions will be acknowledged in writing upon receipt via email.

Other inquiries may also be sent to the above email address, or to the contact people listed below.

Conference Information

Date: Monday, 13 July and Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Venue: The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Organiser: Asia Institute, Faculty of Arts, the University of Melbourne

The Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne invites researchers, policy makers and advisers, educators, and specialists working in any area of China studies to spend a cool summer/winter in Melbourne, the recognised capital of culture in Australia and a designated UNESCO â€œcity of literatureâ€, to explore the many challenging questions posed by the ongoing and rapid changes that have occurred in Chinaâ€™s economy, politics, culture, and society in the 60 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949.

In traditional Chinese chronological systems the 60-year time unit is one of the key ways of classifying and dividing temporal periods from human lives to historical eras. The 60 years since 1949 provide an excellent framework for examining and analysing Chinaâ€™s development, especially in relation to the countryâ€™s future direction. Despite the profound and accelerating changes taking place in the PRC over the last 30 years of structural reforms, all of the major transformations in Chinese society since the founding of the PRC 60 years ago need to be examined if we are to have a full understanding of the serious challenges that China is currently facing.

The Melbourne 2009 Conference on China is designed to bring together China scholars, policy makers and advisers, educators and other specialists from throughout the world to discuss and analyse these 60 years of change from a combination of socioeconomic, sociopolitical, cultural, and institutional perspectives. The theme of this inclusive and interdisciplinary conference Is: 60 Years of the Peopleâ€™s Republic â€“Transformations and Challenges, and questions it will discuss include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Cultural transformations and challenges: Cultural transformations in China over the past 60 years, with particular attention to the countryâ€™s recent past and its present-day conditions

2. Local transformations and challenges: Regional systems, the relationship of the central government to regional or local institutions, and their transformations over the past 60 years, with a particular focus on the recent past

3. Political transformations and challenges: Maoâ€™s political legacy, Dengâ€™s approach to politics, and the current ideal of a harmonious society; Chinaâ€™s transition towards a developed economy and the question of political democracy; China in the post-Olympic period, and the rise of China in the new international political climate

4. Economic transformations and challenges: Economic development from the first-five year plan to the era of economic reforms - achievements, constraints, and prospects; the international financial meltdown and Chinaâ€™s economic and commercial future

5. Legal transformations and challenges: Chinaâ€™s transition from a renzhi (rule by persons) society to a fazhi (rule by law) society, and new systems of law and governance

6. Transformations and challenges in the field of higher education and research: Market mechanisms, funding limitations and changing directions in higher education and research

7. Social transformations and challenges: Socioeconomic and sociopolitical forces behind the perceived expansion in individualism, materialism and the idea of a â€œmoral crisisâ€; the shift from national nihilism to patriotism; increased public participation, community development and the formation of a civil society

Papers on all thematic issues and historical periods or events are welcomed. Each presentation will be for 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes for discussion. The conference will be conducted in English, but a few sessions will be bilingual and conducted in both English and Chinese with interpreters.

Those attending the conference will be responsible for organizing their own travel and accommodation, and some meals.

Outcomes: We are currently exploring opportunities to publish an edited book in either Australia or China.

Registration: All conference attendees need to download a registration form from http://www.chinastudies.unimelb.edu.au/conferences/2009/register.html and email it to Ms.Yangzi Sima at yangzis@unimelb.edu.au

Fees: A standard conference fee of AU$100 is payable when you register. Postgraduate students are entitled to a discount of 50% on their registration fee.